Groups work to control feral cat population

Cat Andersen/Eyewitness News

Marion County - Indianapolis is seeing a rise in the numbers of abandoned animals, and it's not just county humane societies that are becoming overcrowded. Colonies of wild cats are growing with the recession.

Barbara Wills takes care of a colony of cats. Some of them are abandoned pets, while some are feral, which means they were born and raised in the wild - or on the streets. Wills tames some of them in hopes of finding them permanent homes.

"Some of them we've adopted out are coming back. Lady Josephine. Colonel Mustard. Frankie. We've gotten seven back in the last two months," she said.

Wills says hers is just one of the 2,500 managed cat colonies in the Indianapolis area that are growing as the recession continues.

"We're getting a lot of ours back because the owners are losing their homes," she said.

Animal advocates like Wills say ideally they'd love to bring all cats indoors into safe, secure homes but they say some cats reach a certain point where it becomes inhumane to make them domestic house cats.

"Feral cats is just another name for wild cats and they're afraid of human contact. They've never been around humans as a young kitten and so they've just developed a fear of them," said Paula Puntenney.

You might be surprised at the organization stepping up to help feral cats: Habitat for Dogmanity.

"The cats needed some attention too," explained Puntenney, Habitat for Dogmanity.

These volunteers who normally build dog houses are building dozens of cat feeding stations. They're not homes. They're more like restaurant-hotels - a place where feral cats can eat and get out of bad weather without being trapped in captivity.

"These cats are not necessarily homeless. Their home is outside," said Wills.

To control their population without euthanizing them, the non-profit group Indy Feral traps these cats long enough to sterilize them and then lets them go.

"By neutering them we're allowing them to have the life that they're used to but preventing them from having more kittens that would increase the problem," said Wills.

Volunteers are hoping that increase in abandoned pets isn't setting Indianapolis up for a new generation of feral cats.

Volunteers say both food and monetary donations help. More info:

Indy Feral

Cat's Haven

Habitat for Dogmanity

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